1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to helmets and protective headgear, and more specifically, to headgear incorporating electroluminescent light emitting panels and reflective strips for enhancing visibility, safety, recognition, and appearance.
2. Description of Related Art
Helmets are increasingly being used by sports and outdoors enthusiasts and those with professions that carry some risk of injury to the head. For example, bicycle riders, motorcycle riders, skaters, fire fighters, mountain climbers, and construction workers are often required to wear helmets to protect their heads from injury. In case of an accident, the design and quality of a helmet's construction play important roles in preventing serious injury. Perhaps equally as important to protection is the need for prevention of accidents, and in this regard the visibility of the helmet from a distance provides added protection for the wearer. In addition to enhancing safety, helmets may be provided with the capability to display information or a design logo to thereby create an advertising and marketing tool.
In the past, various attempts have been made at providing helmets with a capability to emit or reflect light. Typically, such attempts have included adding or incorporating individual sources of light such as incandescent bulbs, light emitting diodes (LEDs), or light reflective strips into helmets.
However, there are several drawbacks associated with existing light sources that are incorporated into helmets. For example, incandescent light bulbs and LEDs are typically bulky and relatively heavy for their light emitting power. The bulkiness of such light sources also often causes the light source to protrude from the surface of the helmet, or require an overall increase in the size of the helmet, which places negative effects on the aerodynamics of helmets that are used in activities in which the wearer moves with speed. Existing illuminated helmets typically require holes, sockets, straps, fasteners, and other hardware to secure the light source to the helmet, which makes such attachment cumbersome, and adds a relatively large amount of weight to the helmet, thereby increasing the wearer's discomfort. Also, the hardware and attachment methods used to secure the light source to the helmet have poor durability as they can be easily damaged or broken. Further, conventional light sources that are used on helmets are prone to failure as they typically are not shockproof or waterproof.
In addition, incandescent light bulbs and LEDs produce heat which may cause discomfort to the wearer, and LEDs may not provide adequate visibility in bad weather conditions such as rain, snow, and fog. Similarly, light reflective strips that are attached to helmets are only partially effective, when used alone, as they depend on outside light sources for providing illumination. Furthermore, existing light sources that are used on safety helmets do not lend themselves to being conformable into various figures or patterns such as design logos or written material for easy attachment to a helmet. Typically, conventional helmets or caps upon which an illuminated logo or design is to be displayed require that a logo be stencilled or otherwise printed on the panel, which is then placed over a light source to illuminate the logo. Such methods of creating an illuminated logo or icon greatly reduce the functionality of existing light sources for use on helmets.
What has been needed and heretofore unavailable is a helmet incorporating an inexpensive, durable, reliable, light-weight, thin, and relatively small illumination system that is capable of producing highly visible cool light, and also includes light reflective qualities. Such an illumination system must be flexible and capable of easy attachment to the helmet to exhibit light in various shapes and forms without the need for a background light source. The present invention fulfills this need.